In this post, we are going to learn how to describe people in Vietnamese.
First, let’s learn some adjectives that describe people.
Table of Contents
- Cao
- Thấp
- Ốm
- Gầy
- Mập
- Đẹp
- Xinh
- Xấu
- Thông minh
- Ngu
- Ngốc
- Trẻ
- Già
- Dễ thương
- How to describe people in Vietnamese
- Exercise
- Quiz
Cao
Cao in Vietnamese means tall, high. The word “cao” can be used to describe people, objects and animals.
Thấp
Thấp means short (height).Thấp can be used to describe people, animals and objects. Vietnamese language has a different word for “short” in length, but since this post is about describing people, it will not be mentioned here.
When describing person, you can also use the word lùn, which also means short. Lùn is a very informal word for “short” and can be considered offensive to some. However, it is sometimes used as a cute and endearing way of saying “short” to someone close. Thus, depending on the intention and tone of the speaker, it may be interpreted differently.
Ốm
Ốm when used to describe someone’s appearance means thin. However, ốm also means sick in Northern Vietnamese reagions. It is not a popular word in Southern Vietnam areas but most Southern Vietnamese people understand. In Southern Vietnam areas, they use the word bệnh more often to refer to someone being sick.
Ốm nghén means morning sickness.
Gầy
Another word to describe someone as thin in Vietnamese is gầy.
Mập
Mập means fat.
Đẹp
Đẹp in Vietnamese means beautiful. To say someone is handsome, we use the word đẹp trai. Trai refers to male. Gái refers to female. Đẹp gái means beautiful (when talking about female).
Xinh
Xinh means pretty or lovely, in a lesser degree compared to “đẹp.”
You may find the word “xinh” in phrases like xinh xắn or xinh đẹp. “Xinh xắn” means the same as “xinh,” which means lovely. “Xinh đẹp” means the same as “đẹp,” which means beautiful.
Xấu
Xấu means ugly or bad. Another word for ugly is xấu xí. “Xấu xí” doesn’t mean bad. The word xí in xấu xí doesn’t mean anything. Xấu xí means exactly the same thing as xấu when talking about appearance.
Thông minh
Thông minh mean smart or intelligent.
Ngu
Ngu means stupid. Sometimes, you may hear or see the phrase “ngu ngốc.” Ngu ngốc means the same thing as ngu. They both mean stupid. However, since there’s “ngốc” (see below) in the word ngu ngốc, ngu ngốc can also be interpreted as stupid and silly.
Ngốc
Ngốc means silly.
Trẻ
Trẻ means young.
Già
Già means old.
Dễ thương
Dễ thương simply means cute in Vietnamese. But if you want to know the literal translation, dễ means easy, thương means love, together “dễ thương” literally means “easy to love” (because it’s so cute!).
Opposite of “dễ thương” is “dễ ghét.” Ghét means hate. Therefore, “dễ ghét” literally means “easy to hate.” However, “dễ ghét” is not a hateful phrase. People usually mean the opposite when they say “dễ ghét.” For example, someone may find a baby cute and say “dễ ghét quá đi” while smiling as a way to say that he/she is so cute. Why? I have no idea. Maybe they say that as a joke because it’s obvious that it can’t be true. It’s just the way people talk. I grew up with it so I got used to it. I have never heard people actually say “dễ ghét” because they really hate someone. If they hate someone, they would use a much stronger word. “Dễ ghét” is a more cutesy way to say hate.
How to describe people in Vietnamese
We have learned several adjectives to describe people in Vietnamese, now let’s learn how to use them in a sentence.
To describe someone, simply add the adjectives after the pronoun or noun.
Let’s look at the following example.
Con trai chị thông minh quá!
Your son is so smart!
“Con trai chị” in this case means “your son,” which acts as the subject in this sentence. Note that “your son” does not always mean “con trai chị” as we have learned that there is no one word for “you” in Vietnamese and there is no one word for “your.”
Once you have identified the subject in the sentence, you then describe the subject. We have learned that thông minh means smart. As a result, we know that the person is saying “your son is smart” (literal translation is “your son smart“).
The word “quá” by itself doesn’t mean anything. However, when it is used with other adjectives as a tag-along word, it usually emphasizes the word it goes with. For example, “quá đẹp” means “too beautiful,” “so beautiful,” and “cao quá” means “too tall.” When “quá” is a part of a phrase, not just a tag-along word, it can have different meaning. For example, “quá cảnh” is an actual phrase that means “transit.” When “quá” coupled with nouns, it could mean different things. However, for the purpose of this example, “quá” is here to emphasize the adjective.
Exercise
Now if you remember the vocabulary we went over so far in this post and how to use them, let’s try this exercise.
Question
Can you identify the subjects that are being described in the following paragraph?
Vì tôi thấp nên không lấy được quyển sách trên kệ cao. Tôi nhờ Nam lấy hộ. Cậu ấy là học sinh cao nhất trong lớp tôi. Quyển sách này kể về một con vịt xấu xí trở thành thiên nga xinh đẹp. Đây là câu chuyện mà tôi thích nhất.
Answer
Let’s identify the subjects that are being described using the adjectives we learned so far in this post.
Vì tôi thấp nên không lấy được quyển sách trên kệ cao. Tôi nhờ Nam lấy hộ. Cậu ấy là học sinh cao nhất trong lớp tôi. Quyển sách này kể về một con vịt xấu xí trở thành thiên nga xinh đẹp. Đây là câu chuyện mà tôi thích nhất.
Below are phrases that have the adjectives we learned in this post:
tôi thấp
kệ cao
học sinh cao
con vịt xấu xí
thiên nga xinh đẹp
First, we learned that tôi means I and thấp means short. The subject “I” is being described here. In this case, literal translation is “I short” or in other word, “I’m short.”
Kệ means shelf. Cao means tall, high. The subject “kệ” is being described here. In this case, literal translation is “shelf tall,” or in other word, “tall shelf.”
We learned that học sinh means student and cao means tall. Literal translation is “student tall,” or in other word, “tall student.” In this case though, we have not gone over it yet, but “nhất” means most, best, number one. Therefore, “học sinh cao nhất” means “the tallest student.”
Now applying the same method, do you understand what “con vịt xấu xí” and “thiên nga xinh đẹp” means?
If you think “con vịt xấu xí” means “ugly duck” and “thiên nga xinh đẹp” means “beautiful swan,” you are correct!
Here’s what the paragraph means:
Because I’m short, (I) can’t get the book from the tall shelf. I ask Nam. He is the tallest student in my class. The book is about an ugly duck who turned into a beautiful swan. It is my favorite book.
